There She Goes Again
by Measured
Summary: Thieves are fragile, and eventually the time will come when they aren't quite quick enough. Heather/Nephenee.


Title: There She Goes Again  
Series: FE10  
Character/pairing: Heather/Nephenee  
Rating: PG-13  
Author's note: springkink: September 13th  
Fire Emblem, Nephenee/Heather; Nephenee defending an injured Heather in battle - Thieves are fragile, and eventually the time will come when they aren't quite quick enough

This is set about mid RD Greil Mercenary chapters timeline~wise.

Happy (little late, heh) birthday, Lin. Hope it makes you feel better in your sickfulness :c!

**.**

Nephenee feels arms about her in an embrace. For a minute, Nephenee thinks it's an attack, that someone's about to slit her throat, but no, it's really just _her._ She can smell her, all sweet and flowery smellin' even on the battlefield.

"Guess who," she says, almost sing-songy.

"Heather, we're in the middle of a battle–" Nephenee says.

"And our General and his ever-present friend seem to be taking care of things admirably. There isn't even a soldier to be seen in this corner," Heather says.

And it's true, General Ike and Soren have pretty much plowed through the whole front lines. Just the other day she heard Boyd a-complainin' about how Ike was stealin' away all the battlin'. She thinks the soldiers go to him, expecting a weak lord to cut through and send the troops a scatterin', but if Soren's wind magic doesn't cut them down to size, Ike's sword will.

"Actually, Neffie, I wanted to propose a partnership of sorts. I'll watch your back, you watch mine, deal?"

Nephenee blushes at this, and it's all she can do to shake her head, her teal hair gettin' in her eyes as she does. "Ya see, I already got me a partnership–with Brom, ya see–ever since we got in the militia down there, we swore we'd keep each other safe so we could go home to our families."

Heather loosens her grip, and comes around to survey her. She's much less bubbly now, in fact she looks downright annoyed.

"Don't tell me you're with that–" Her lip curls in disgust.

"Oh no, no, no," Nephenee says. "He's _married_ with several young'uns, he's more like an uncle to me than anything...like that."

"Ah, good," Heather says, obviously relieved.

Something catches her eye across the battlefield. An approaching rider of the other side. He reigns his horse in, and she sees it's Oscar.

"Heather, get on. Soren sent me, apparently there's a rare tome he wants you to er, 'procure' as he put it," he says. His smile never falters as he talks, and his eyes are so squinty that she wonders how he doesn't run into trees along the way.

"Well, I'm always up for 'procuring', especially when it involves rare things," Heather says with a smile. She turns to Nephenee, and gives her one last tight embrace, pressing her voluptuous curves against her.

"Stay safe, Nephenee," she says. She reaches up for the reins, and it's only Nephenee that hears her mutter under her breath "_Still, couldn't he have sent Titania?_" as she climbs on.

The truth is, even if she and Brom had an agreement–which they sorta do, but not all official like–she'd have had to turned Heather down. Heather is just so _distractin'_ with her flowery scent and long, flowing blond hair. She's such a pretty little thing that sometimes Nephenee can't help but stare, and she would more likely be distracted by Heather's back in that tight, leaves-nothin'-to-the-imagination pants than keep it safe. And that wouldn't be good for either of them.

Still, she feels a mite bit gloomy sittin' out here alone, watchin' her ride off with Oscar, even if she knows Heather would die before she even gave Oscar another glance. Or any other guy, for that matter.

She rests the spear against the ground a bit, without lettin' it get stuck in the soft soil, and takes a chance to catch her breath. It's been a right furious battle, tryin' to take down the Begnion troops. She's barely had a chance to think throughout it all, even if it seems General Ike and Soren are the ones doin' most of the fightin' up there.

Lately Heather has been takin' up more and more of her thoughts, stealin' in her dreams and leavin' her with a fluttery feelin' and tingly all over. Nephenee didn't right know what to make of this, really.

But the battlefield isn't the place for such thoughts. A misstep could get ya killed, and Nephenee didn't intend to be dyin' just yet.

Especially not with all those dreams unfulfilled.

She plucks up her spear, squares her shoulders and gets back to the business at hand.

**.**

More than a half hour later, Nephenee has shooed Rhys out of the path of arrows, right after he had to keep Mia from recklessly gettin' her arm cut off, and taken out a few more enemy soldier's of her own. She hasn't seen Heather in a bit, but that's to be expected with her being all stealthy and thief-like and all. She wipes a trace of blood from her cheek where it had splattered and looks out. There's been some reinforcements, and they're fliers too. She's glad she's got her trusty javelin, though she wonders where them archers went off to. Hopefully Shinon isn't hungover or drunk again, cuz with this many fliers around, they can use some arrows knockin' them down from the sky.

She catches sight of Heather, then. It's at the edge of the clearing. She just catches Heather draw her blade away from the body of an enemy thief before she sees where the fliers are going.

"Gimme a push," she yells to Mia.

"Sure thing!" Mia replies and puts her weight into it, giving her some extra leverage and distance as she closes in. Her armor is heavy and hot, slamming into her and sure to be leaving more bruises, but she isn't sure how long Heather can last out there.

She sees a pegasus knight fly down to strike, only to have Heather dodge, ducking into the wooded area for cover. Another throws down a javelin, and Heather uses one of the bigger trees as a shield. Nephenee wills her muscles to go further, past the weariness of the day's fightin' and the heat. She sees one fly in behind, right where Heather's wasn't lookin', and sink its javelin in her back. Heather is knocked into the tree, a mite bit dazed as another of those fliers came swoopin' in. Her cloak is ripped, and stained in red, with a huge gash in her back where the javelin struck. Thieves are fragile, and eventually the time will come when they aren't quite quick enough.

Another flier circles in to finish the job. It's like she can hear every heartbeat, every breath as she comes into the woods. Heather digs her nails into the bark, tryin' to right herself, but it looks like she's hurt her ankle as well.

She steps in front of Heather, raises her spear and swings it. The timing and angle is just right, and the javelin twirls for a moment, then falls to the soft ground, burying itself between the roots of the tree.

"––Neffie, is that you?" Heather asks, her voice faint. It tugs at Nephenee, fills her with worry.

"Ya okay, Heather?" She asks, not daring to look back, lest one of them catch her unaware and stab her in the back.

"I am, now that you're here," Heather says, and there's a distractin', teasin' edge to her voice. It takes all of Nephenee's concentration to keep focused at the battle at hand.

Another group of reinforcements comes in. One swoops down in on her, but she takes the blow in her shoulder with a wince, and shoves her spear between the breastplate of the pegasus knight before she flies back up. She pulls up sharply on the reigns, and the pegasus neighs as they go spiraling out. Another dips down to take the last one's place. She strikes first, sinking her own javelin in

She sees one fall from the sky.

"Nephenee is that you?" Rolf calls, his voice going a bit shrill. "Soren sent us."

Shinon mutters something about high and mighty mages and runs his boot across the ground. He doesn't look at them, doesn't greet them, but just searches the sky for more fliers.

Shinon lets an arrow fly, and it strikes true, felling the pegasus knight with one hit. The enemy falls from the sky, and in the near distance there's the crashing of branches and the thud of bodies hittin' the forest floor.

"Can y'all take care of this? I gotta take Heather to get healed as she's hurt somethin' fierce," Nephenee says.

"As if you have to ask," Shinon mutters. "Is Ike a stupid whelp? Is Soren a pretentious ass? Will Gatrie chase after anything in a skirt? Might as well ask if _water is wet_."

"What Master Shinon means is that we've got it all under control," Rolf says. He lifts his hands in a salute, and then raises his bow to aim at the enemies.

"Good. Thank ya," Nephenee says. She scoops up Heather, careful to not touch her injured back and carries her bridal style out of the woods and away from there.'Course, she should've taken her over her shoulder, or had her hop on and carry her piggyback, but it doesn't matter too much. She doesn't think Rolf or Shinon will let any of those fliers near, and the rest of the army is mostly cleared up. The ground is littered with bodies and bloodstains, with flies buzzin' about in the heat. But it's almost over and she doesn't think they've lost anyone on their side.

And Heather is going to be okay.

"—You were so dashing!" Heather says. She really looks like she might swoon, or maybe just hop of and rip off Nephenee's armor and take her right there with everyone watchin'.

"Um, really?" Nephenee says. She never was too good with words anyways. "I mean, I'm just glad you're all right and you know, alive."

"I'm more than all right, you positively saved me out there," Heather gushes. "I owe you my life now, you see. I owe you _everything in the world_."

She says it with such a coy, flirtatious edge that Nephenee can't help but blush.

"You're–we're—"

She clears her throat.

"We're on the same side and all, so of course I'd be savin' your hide. It's my job..."

"Is that all, Neffie?" Heather asks pointedly.

She flushes and tries to think what she'd say to this question. She's saved by catching sight of a glint of reddish brown hair under a white headdress of a bishop.

"I can see Rhys from here," she says.

Rhys is a bit farther in, following after Mia and tryin' to keep her from gettin' all torn up again.

She carefully sets Heather down, and keeps a hand lingerin' on her arm, as if she might have to just in case pull her up and run off again.

"I hope ya still have some staves, 'cuz Heather here took a nasty lickin' from some pegasus knights over there," Nephenee says.

"Yes, Soren insisted I bring extra for today's battle during the battle preparations," Rhys says in his soft, gentle voice. "Of course, I am glad for his foresight and wisdom because I am down to my last staff."

He steps forward and raises it, and Heather shines white in the light. Her clothes are still ripped and stained, but she's better and no longer near death's door.

"Ooh, there's more!" Mia says, as she runs off after a reinforcement which had just come in through the south. Rhys sighs and follows after her, murmuring _Not again._

"You didn't get healed, though," Heather says, and traces around Nephenee's shoulder.

"Oh, this? It's just a flesh wound," she says with a shaky smile. "Really."

"Brave too," Heather breathes. "You're really something, Nephenee. A true hero."

"Aw, shucks," Nephenee says. She rubs at the back of her neck, her face as red as a tomato.

"Um, Heather, about your deal–" Nephenee begins. She clears her throat, a bit nervously. "Iffen you'll have me, I'd be glad to uhh–_watch your back_."

"Good! Then, it's settled," Heather says and throws her arms about her. She leans in and steals a quick kiss that leaves Nephenee just as tingly and fluttery as her dreams have.

"I think this is going to be a long and _satisfying_ partnership, don't you?" Heather says, looking at her with a half-lidded, sultry gaze.

Nephenee can only nod, because everything else she'd say would be stuttery and even foolish. But yes, she thinks. Everything is just as she'd hoped it'd be.

-  
The Ike & Soren mentions are based on a particular battlefield where the enemies decided to ignore the paladins I had down there, and go straight to suicide themselves on Ike and Soren who had an A support and were thus saved from arrows by ~the power of strikelove/strike an A support~ or something, I don't know. The battle even ended before I wanted it to because Ike ended up killing the boss by accident. Dammit, Ike! I wanted that extra experience by killing those other dudes. Could you stop being awesome for two seconds?


End file.
